By Sword and Fire : Cruelty and Atrocity in Medieval Warfare

by Sean McGlynn

• ISBN13: 9780297846789
• ISBN10: 0297846787
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-09-02
• Publisher: WN

Summary

Sean McGlynn investigates the reality of medieval warfare. For all the talk of chivalry, medieval warfare routinely involved acts which we would consider war crimes. Lands laid waste, civilians slaughtered, prisoners massacred: this was standard fare justified by tradition and practical military necessity. It was unbelievably barbaric, but seldom uncontrolled. Such acts of atrocity were calculated, hideous cruelties inflicted in order to achieve a specific end. Sean McGlynn examines the battles of Acre and Agincourt, sieges like Beziers, Lincoln, Jerusalem and Limoges as well as the infamous chevauchees of the Hundred Years War that devastated great swathes of France. He reveals how these grisly affairs form the origin of accepted 'rules of war', codes of conduct that are today being enforced in the International Court of Justice in the Hague.Written for the popular not the academic market, this is a 'warts and all' portrait of war in the middle ages that combines vivid narrative with explanation and analysis.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgements
A note on sources
Maps
Violence	p. 1
Introduction	p. 1
Crime and Punishment	p. 5
War	p. 36
The King as Judge and Executioner	p. 36
The King as Warrior	p. 52
The Church and Just War	p. 61
Chivalry and the Laws of War	p. 71
Battles	p. 81
Battles in Medieval Warfare	p. 85
Massacres of Prisoners	p. 91
Verden, 782	p. 92
Waterford, 1170	p. 95
Hattin, 1187 and Acre, 1191	p. 100
Agincourt, 1415	p. 113
Towton, 1461 and Tewkesbury, 1471	p. 129
Conclusions	p. 133
Sieges	p. 141
Sieges in Medieval Warfare	p. 143
Storm, Sack and Non-Combatants	p. 151
Jerusalem, 1099	p. 152
Chateau Gaillard, 1203-4	p. 161
Beziers, 1209	p. 170
Limoges, 1370	p. 179
Conclusions	p. 185
Campaigns	p. 195
Campaigns in Medieval Warfare	p. 195
Ravaging	p. 197
William the Conqueror's Harrying of the North, 1069-70	p. 200
King David's Scottish Invasions, 1138	p. 208
King John's Winter Campaign, 1215-16	p. 222
The Black Prince's Grand Chevauchee, 1355	p. 233
Conclusions	p. 239
Medieval Savagery?	p. 245
Notes	p. 254
Select Bibliography	p. 266
Index	p. 275
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